No. 1 Florida Volleyball Posts Complete Win in 3-0 Sweep of Ole Miss

Oxford, MS - Junior Florida right-side/setter Kelly Murphy(Wilmington, Ill.) posted her nation-leading sixth triple-double of theseason and the No. 1 Gators recorded one of their most complete wins of the season on Friday in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-17) decision againstSoutheastern Conference Western Division leader Ole Miss in the Gillom Sports Center.

The Gators (20-1, 13-0 SEC) clinched their 20th consecutive 20-winseason with the victory, out-blocking the Rebels 9.0-1.0 in the match.Florida hit .368 on the evening, marking its fourth consecutive match ofhitting better than .300, and limited Ole Miss to just an .067 hittingefficiency, the second consecutive match that the Gators have held theiropponent under .100 hitting.

“I thought our team really brought their ‘A’ game today,” Florida headcoach Mary Wise said. “With the quick turnaround from Wednesday night’s match, the travel yesterday and playing in this environment against a really good Ole Miss team, the way we played was a real testament to our team’s maturity. I thought everyone gave their best effort today and we won this match with serving and blocking.”

Murphy’s 10 kills came on .562 hitting with a team-high 16 assists and a match-high 10 digs. She also added two service aces for a team-high 12.0 total points. It was Murphy’s sixth triple-double of the season and,impressively, her third in a three-set match this year. Murphy’striple-double was the 21st of her collegiate career and it also markedher eighth consecutive double-double.

“Kelly was outstanding tonight, but she had a lot of help from herteammates around her,” Wise said. “This was a great win – Ole Miss had been undefeated at home and we came in and played really well with not a lot of preparation time. Ole Miss is an NCAA team that has a chance to win the SEC West.”

The Gators raced out to an early 5-2 advantage before the Rebelsanswered with two consecutive kills to cut within one at 5-4. A Riverskill and a block by Anderson and Jaeckel on consecutive plays sparked a 3-0 run that extended Florida’s advantage to four, 8-4. The Gators keptrolling to an 11-6 advantage thanks to kills by Jaeckel and Murphy thatforced Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin to burn a timeout.

Out of the break, Florida ran off four consecutive points, including apair of aces by Murphy, to widen its lead to nine, 15-6, heading intoanother Rebel timeout. From there, the Gators used a 6-2 run thatincluded three big blocks to go up 21-8. Ole Miss ran off a pair ofpoints to cut within 11, 21-10, but back-to-back attack errors by theRebels extended Florida’s lead back to 13, 23-10. The Gators easilyclosed out the 25-12 first-set victory. Florida limited Ole Miss to a-.116 hitting efficiency in the first frame and the Gators won theblocking battle 5.0-1.0.

Ole Miss took a 3-1 lead to begin the second sewithin one, 4-3, on a Rivers kill, the Rebels scored three consecutivepoints to go up 7-3 and force a timeout by the Gators. Out of the break,a Murphy kill and an attack error by Whitney Craven allowed Florida tocut within two, 7-5. Trailing 8-5, the Gators got a kill from Murphy andanother Ole Miss attack error on back-to-back plays to whittle itsdeficit down to one, 8-7. After the two teams traded points, successivekills by Wiggs and Jaeckel knotted the score at 10-all.

After another tie at 11, Murphy charted a kill and Brown servedback-to-back aces to extend Florida’s advantage to three, 14-11, andforce a Rebel timeout. Trailing 16-13 after a Rivers kill, back-to-backkills by Ole Miss brought it within one, 16-15. The two teams begantrading points, but a Wiggs attack error and a Regina Thomas killallowed Ole Miss to knot the score at 18-18. A Jaeckel kill stopped theGators’ scoring slide, sparking a 3-0 Florida run that it in front21-18, and caused a timeout by the Rebels. The squads traded pointsbefore the Gators clinched a 25-21 second-set victory. UF hit animpressive .500 in the second frame.

The two teams battled evenly to begin the third set before the Gatorsbroke to a 6-3 advantage after back-to-back kills by Anderson and Brown. After the Rebels cut within two, 6-4, Murphy charted back-to-back kills to extend Florida’s edge back to four, 8-4, and force an Ole Miss timeout. The Gators kept rolling to an 11-5 advantage, capped off by a Craven attack error.

From there, the Rebels responded with three consecutive points to cutwithin three, 11-8. With her team ahead 12-8, Jaeckel servedback-to-back aces and Rivers followed with a kill to give Florida a 15-8lead and cause Getzin to burn his last timeout. The Gators kept rollingto go in front 20-11 on an Ole Miss attack error. The Rebels came asclose as seven on several occasions, last at 24-17, before a Wiggs killgave Florida the 25-17 match-clinching win.

The Rebels (16-6, 10-3 SEC) were led by Thomas’ match-high 12 kills on .475 hitting and Miranda Kitts’ eight kills on .444 hitting. Craven, whoentered the match as the team’s kill leader at with 3.17 kills per set,did not record a kill and committed 13 attack errors on the evening.

Florida returns to action on Friday when it travels to Athens, Ga., totake on Georgia. Opening serve in the Ramsey Student Center is slatedfor 7 p.m. ET

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